The present disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for orienting or positioning a patient on a patient support device, such as a hospital bed. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for pulling a patient toward a head end of a patient support device.
Some patient support devices, such as hospital beds, stretchers, surgical tables, and the like, have mechanisms for articulating, raising, lowering and/or tilting a patient support portion of the device relative to a base of the device. When a head section of the patient support portion of the device is raised to move the patient from a supine position to a sitting position, it is not uncommon for the patient to slide down the head section and move toward a foot end of the device. Thus, the patient may be shifted too far toward the foot end of the patient support device when the head section is lowered back down to return the patient to the supine position. Some prior art devices, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,929 and 5,280,657 and those shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002/0083521 and 2002/0083522, include mechanisms for pulling a patient toward the head end of a hospital bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,407,831 discloses a patient positioning apparatus comprising a base, a support column, at least one positioning arm on the support column capable of being positioned over a bed and having a buckle and strap capable of securing to a patient support with a receiving buckle so that a patient can be partially or totally suspended when an adjustable bed is lowered. The apparatus further comprises a telescoping support column and horizontal support for holding a first and second positioning arm. The positioning arms further comprise locking pivots for extending and retracting. Patient repositioning is effectuated by positioning the arms over a patient, extending straps with buckle inserts into receiving buckles on a fabric gripper secured to bed linens. A patient positioning apparatus can further be mounted to either a ceiling or a wall or can comprise a swiveling support column.
The arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 8,407,831 requires a large additional frame mechanism which takes up considerable space near and/or around a patient support device such as a hospital bed and is time consuming, complicated and difficult for a care giver such as a nurse to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,657 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0259389 disclose patient positioning arrangements which pull a sheet on top of the mattress on which a patient is located. The head end of the sheet is gripped by a tether or cable arrangement which pulls the sheet downwards over the head end of the mattress. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,657 this pulling downwards of the sheet is done by movement of the mattress upwards relative to the base portion of the patient support device. In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0259389, this downwards pulling of the sheet is done by a motor located underneath or within the mattress. Both of these arrangements involve significant frictional forces between the sheet and the mattress as the sheet is pulled along when in contact with both the top surface of the mattress and around the head end corner and then the head end side of the mattress. This makes it difficult to move the sheet and also results in significant shear forces on the skin of a patient on the patient support device. Such skin shear forces are to be avoided as they are uncomfortable even for patients without sensitive skin, and can be positively harmful for patients with sensitive skin or skin conditions.